How to Start with Digital Marketing: A Beginner’s Guide for Conscious Small Business Owners

Struggling with digital marketing? Are you a conscious small business owner who’s feeling a bit lost facing content creation, email marketing and SEO …all at once?

If so, keep reading, this is for you.

In this article I want to address the main tools you can use to build a successful online brand promotion.

From managing a social account without losing your mind, to writing SEO oriented content, from setting up an email marketing campaign to writing content that suits your values and identity, I will equip you with all the essential knowledge to set up a digital marketing plan that works.

Importance of Digital Marketing for Beginners

If you’re a conscious small business owner, it’s crucial to get in touch with the main aspects of digital marketing.

To have a solid brand and a business strategy that allows you to reach your ideal clients it’s probably one of your heart’s desires. Digital marketing offers the unprecedented opportunity to reach a global audience, with more accessible costs and results that are easier to measure.

This means that even small businesses can leverage digital channels to reach new people, with the less resources they usually have. It’s easy to understand that the level of engagement and interaction (and, potentially, of sales) simply cannot match the traditional media.

The ways to communicate with your audience are multiples, and you can leverage those that can help you find your ideal clients better: social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin, Tik Tok), blogs, email campaigns, but also Youtube video or podcast. 

Through those you can communicate directly with your audience: get feedback from them and ask them what their needs are and how they can be satisfied. 

The downside? The digital landscape is constantly evolving, and staying updated with the latest trends and technologies is imperative. For newcomers, this means that there are always new opportunities to explore, whether it’s through emerging social media platforms, innovative content formats, or the latest tools for data analysis.

I know it’s hard and challenging, but with a good strategy and a little help from someone who can guide you, you’ll rock it, I promise!

By the way, If you feel like you need extra support or you’re just interested in digital marketing and branding, check on my newsletter.

Understanding Digital Marketing Channels

In digital marketing there are a variety of channels you can use, each of them serving specific purposes and reaching different segments of audience. To understand these channels and what they can potentially do for your business is essential, especially for beginners.

Some of the primary channels include social media, email marketing, content in general, search engine optimization (SEO), and advertising. Each of these channels can be used independently or in combination with the others, depending on your marketing goals.

Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and LinkedIn are powerful tools for building brand awareness and engaging with consumers. Beginners should focus on identifying which platforms are used by their target audience and tailor their content accordingly. If used correctly, social media is a great tool to get to know your target better and what it’s interested in.

Email marketing is another powerful way to communicate directly with subscribers. You can share news about your activity, promotions of your products and personalized content with people that willingly decided to follow you via email.

Make sure to tailor your content based on topics valuable for your audience. For example, try researching the main questions that your target is asking online, and answer with blog posts, emails or videos.

Key Components of a Digital Marketing Strategy

The first component of a successful digital marketing strategy is audience research, which involves identifying the target market and understanding their needs, preferences, and behaviors.

This step is critical for investing in marketing efforts that resonate with potential customers. Tools like surveys, social media insights, and analytics can provide valuable data to help you get to know your audience.

Another essential element is the establishment of a unique value proposition (UVP). This statement differentiates your brand from its competitors and highlights the unique benefits it can offer to your clients. It’s crucial for your client to understand what you’re doing and how you are different from those who are doing almost the same things as you. They’ll buy your specificity and your value before your products.

A well-defined UVP becomes the cornerstone of all marketing communications, guiding content creation and campaign strategies. Ask yourself what differentiate you from the others, what are the values and the mission you have.

Finally, to create a digital ecosystem it’s important to implement a multi-channel approach that involves different marketing channels, such as social media, email, content and SEO- into a cohesive strategy. Make sure your brand identity is consistent everywhere, or your audience won’t be able to recognize your brand and trust you.

Setting SMART Goals for Digital Marketing

Setting realistic and actionable goals is the first step of any digital marketing strategy. The SMART framework provides a structured approach to goal-setting, and allows you to reach:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Time-bound results.

Applying this model will help you create reasonable goals that can guide marketing efforts and facilitate performance tracking.

For instance, instead of saying, “I want to increase website traffic,” a specific goal would be, “I want to increase website traffic by 25% within the next three months.” This clarity allows for more targeted tactics and actions.

You can monitor most of the digital metrics using online tools. In this case for example you could you Google Analytics, to check the number of visitors on your website and conversion rates. This way you can make informed adjustments to your strategy.

To set realistic and attainable goals, it is important to value your time availability and the resources you can spend on your business. This will guide you in building a strategy that is also sustainable for you and your team.

Creating Engaging Content for Digital Marketing

Creating content is the heart of digital marketing, the main way to communicate and provide value to your audience. To create meaningful content it’s important to know what are the real interests of your audience and what problems they have to solve.  This requires thorough research and analysis to identify the types of content that resonate most effectively.

Some example of digital content in marketing is:

• Blog posts
• Short or long form videos
• Infographics
• Podcast episodes
• Social media posts
• Email campaigns and newsletters
• Case studies
• Ebooks
• Webinars and online events
• Guides, Ebooks and Downloadable PDFs

These are the most common ones, but you can get very creative with content.

These can be conjugated in many types of content, the most popular and engaging are:

• Educational content (how to, tips and tricks, case studies, guides)
• Storytelling content (customer stories, how your brand is born or a behind the scene of your work)
• Visual content (graphcs, memes, video, Gifs)
• Interactive content (survey, quizzes, live streaming, webinars)

You’ll need to choose based both on what is better for your audience and what works best for you: if you feel more confident in writing than doing Youtube content, maybe it will be better to launch a blog instead of a Youtube channel. The more confident you feel while making content, the more your clients will appreciate your uniqueness. 

Whatever you’ll choose, always remember to craft something that is valuable for them.

Consistency in content creation is vital for building a loyal audience and increasing the visibility on search engines. That’s why I always encourage beginner small business owners to develop a content calendar that outlines topics, formats, and publication schedules in a way that allow them to maintain consistency and ensure a steady stream of relevant content.

This strategic approach can significantly enhance brand presence and authority in the digital space in the long run.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Basics

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an essential aspect of digital marketing that focuses on increasing a website’s visibility in search engine results.

It’s a rather complex topic, but for beginners, understanding the basics of SEO is enough to start driving some organic traffic to their company websites.

The first step in SEO is keyword research, which involves identifying the terms and phrases potential customers actually use when searching for products or services. Tools like Google Keyword Planner or Ubersuggest can help beginners discover relevant keywords to target. 

We can divide SEO practice in three types: on Page SEO, off Page SEO and technical SEO.

SEO On Page 

Seo on page refers to all the seo techniques you can apply directly on your website pages to optimize your search engine results, like:

• Content, high quality and engaging for your public
• Key Word use, especially on titles, descriptions and texts
• Website Structure, your website should be easy to understand and navigate
• Images optimisation, use lightweight images with correct tags and alt text to improve your visibility

SEO Off Page

Seo off page refers to all the actions you take outside of your website to improve its ranking. Essentially, it focuses on the reputation and authority of your site in the eyes of Google. Some examples include:

• Link building, getting links from other websites that direct to your pages
• Social media, sharing your content on social media to drive extra traffic
• Reviews and testimonials, having positive ones to improve your online reputation

Technical SEO

Moreover, technical SEO plays a significant role in ensuring that a website is easily crawlable by search engines. This includes:

• optimizing site speed
• mobile-friendliness
• ensuring a clean URL structure

I strongly recommend to beginners to also familiarize with tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to monitor site performance and identify areas for improvement. By mastering these SEO basics, you can significantly enhance your online visibility, drawing more traffic and potential customers to your sites.

Relevant note: I’m referring mostly to Google because while writing is still the most used one, but be aware that SEO rules applies differently for different search engines (Bing, Ecosia, etc). SEO is also changing fast, as AI is playing a huge role in it. Make sure to keep updated with it if it’s your primary source of traffic.

Email Marketing Fundamentals

Email marketing, while being widely underestimated, still remains one of the most effective digital marketing channels for businesses of all sizes.

It’s considered an owned channel, therefore way more valuable then loose post views or clicks.

To put you in perspective, while social media followers are people following your page inside a platform that could decide to kick you out tomorrow, newsletter lists are yours until the single used unsubscribes and can be migrated from platform to platform.

No need to be shy to send email and newsletters to your audience: if they decided to leave their email address, then it clearly states that they want to hear from you.

so, the first step is to build a robust email list. This involves collecting email addresses through sign-up forms on websites, paid ads promotions, and lead magnets (e.g. eBooks or exclusive offers). While doing this, it’s important to prioritize obtaining consent to comply with data protection regulations (GDPR).

Once an email list is established, segmenting the audience is crucial for delivering personalized content. Segmentation can be based on factors like demographics, purchase history, or engagement levels.

By tailoring messages to specific groups, you can increase opening rates and engagement, leading to higher conversion rates. For instance, sending targeted promotions to customers who have previously purchased similar products can extend the average life cycle of your customers.

Social Media Marketing Techniques for Beginners

Last but not least, Social Media has become one of the most adopted marketing tools of our times.

To succeed on social media, the first step is to identify on which platforms your target audience is present. For each one, you’ll have to create different types of content such as promotional posts, educational or user-generated content.

To create a sense of community is crucial: respond to comments, messages and mentions, talk with your audience and ask them what they like. In time, they’ll start seeing your brand as the go-to for help and support.

Make sure to leverage all features like polls, live videos, or stories to facilitate interactions and keep followers engaged.

If you’re not confident yet, start with something that feels easy for you. Whatever it is, try to show the human side of the brand, conscious audiences love it.

Collaborating with influencers or other brands of your niche can also help your brand reach a bigger audience but beware of vanity metrics, make sure their audience aligns with yours and that is really engaged.

Analysis and data in digital marketing

Once you’re starting to put yourself out there, it’s crucial that you measure your results.

Monitoring and analyzing digital marketing performance is essential for understanding the effectiveness of strategies and making informed decisions.

For beginners, the first step is to establish key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with their marketing goals. By defining what success looks like, you’ll be able to focus the efforts without wasting resources.